Citywide Planning maintains the city's General Plan which provides guidance to all city agencies and departments regarding urban design, land use, transportation, housing, open space and a variety of other issues. Citywide Planning also develops permanent controls — zoning, planning code controls and other regulations that implement the General Plan, both through community-based planning efforts and citywide initiatives.
The Citywide Division acts as the urban design resource for the City, and gathers and analyzes data in support of land‐use policy. The Citywide Division proposes policy on a wide range of topics, including: housing, transportation, urban design, land use, community stabilization, and sustainability policy.
Land Use & Transportation
From broad-ranging topics such as housing and affordability to effective transportation and public space, Citywide Planning seeks to forge shared visions for the city’s existing and evolving neighborhoods and meet the needs of existing and future residents, workers, and visitors while achieving citywide goals for inclusivity, sustainability, and economic vitality.
Plans & Policies
Citywide Planning maintains the city's General Plan, which provides guidance to all City agencies and departments regarding urban design, land use, transportation, housing, open space and a variety of other issues. The General Plan is the legal underpinning for land use and policy decisions and a vision for how the city will grow and evolve.
Core Functions
Information and Analysis Group
The Information and Analysis Group carries out the Division’s and much of the Department’s data analysis and reporting, graphic design, and mapping/GIS needs.
City Design Group
The City Design Group works to improve San Francisco's livability through concern for the physical qualities of the city.
Implementing Our Community Plans
The Implementation Group helps to turn the visions from recently adopted Area Plans into on-the-ground improvements, working with community members, development project sponsors, and City agencies.
Current Efforts
Housing
Perhaps no issue is more pressing than the City’s housing crisis. The Citywide Division works to improve housing affordability through a three-pronged approach of housing production, tenant protections, and housing stock preservation.
- Accessory Dwelling Units
- Housing Needs and Trends Report
- Housing Affordability Strategy
- Public Land for Housing
Transportation
Planning for an effective, equitable, and sustainable transportation system.
Land Use and Community Plans
These efforts seek to forge shared visions for the city’s existing and evolving neighborhoods, including large-scale development sites, to meet the needs of existing and future residents, workers, and visitors while achieving citywide goals for inclusivity, sustainability, and economic vitality.
- The Central SoMa Plan
- Excelsior Outer Mission Neighborhood Strategy
- The Market Street Hub Project (The Hub)
- Southeast Framework
Master Plans and Development Agreements
The Planning Department, in coordination with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, develops, reviews, and brings forward for approval master plans for major new development areas, including building form and design, land use, streets, open spaces and other public amenities.
- Balboa Reservoir
- India Basin
- Potrero Power Plant
General Plan
The City's General Plan serves to guide these changes to ensure that the qualities that make San Francisco unique are preserved and enhanced. Adopted by the Planning Commission and approved by the Board of Supervisors, the General Plan serves as a basis for decisions that affect all aspects of our everyday lives from where we live and work to how we move about. It is both a strategic and long term document, broad in scope and specific in nature. In short, the General Plan is the embodiment of the community's vision for the future of San Francisco.
The General Plan Addresses the following:
Land Use, Circulation, Housing, Conservation, Open Space, Noise and Safety.
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